About ten minutes ago I ordered BLOODLINES.

(EDIT 23 June 2016: Bloodlines arrived today and I'm very excited to start reading it)

This is part one of my plan to roleplay in the years Before the Awakening.

Right now I'm secretly creating a blog to house all the background information for my characters (PC and NPC). Also included are four planets of my own creation, some house rules and I'll probably have a place to chronicle every game. Among the house rules will be rules for First Order and Resistance ships if the Beginner Game doesn't have them.

Naturally the campaign won't start until after I've got The Force Awakens Beginner Game. But I intend to be prepared.

Consider this a placeholder for posts about my campaign.

Managed to read twelve of the twenty one chapters of Bloodlines. Well worth reading, but by no means the Tom Clancy style intrigue was described to me as. So I'm keen to read more, as the book is that good, but for the inspiration I was hoping for it's a big pile of meh.

Original Trilogy

Prequel Trilogy

Star Wars Rebels

The Clone Wars

All of these have provided a host of ideas and inspiration. Unlike The Force Awakens, The Phantom Menace did introduce us to the politics of the time and the Planet at the heart of the Republic. In The Force Awakens we get a brief glimpse of Hosnian Prime in the seconds it takes to go boom. In Bloodlines, albeit I've not finished, I'm not getting to know the planet enough to begin a campaign of intrigue there.

I suspect this topic will still be around after Episode IX. Hopefully there'll be a Star Wars Resistance animated TV series to help create a bigger, better and more inspiring picture of the galaxy. Until then I'll put this on ice and return when I have something more substantial to work with.

If you've not read Bloodlines, and it is the only Star Wars book I've ever bought, I still recommend it. Claudia Grey has done a great job and I'm not disappointed I got it.

But until I have more background I can't create a campaign.

Data! Data! Data! I cannot make bricks without clay!

I was wondering about establishing an Intelligence Network that has a shady side in that thanks to Snoke and those Senators affiliated or allied with the First Order they've been assigned the secret task of locating and establishing whether Luke Skywalker's new Jedi Academy is a threat to the New Republic.

Apparently Aftermath Life Debt reveals Leia did receive some Jedi training which is what I suspected since I was more inclined to explain that Leia tried to train Ben herself but because of her work in the Senate this gave Snoke the chance to corrupt Ben.

Please note Bloodlines suggests Ben now 23 was already being trained by Luke and was currently incommunicado before, during and after the events that led to Leia being revealed as the daughter of Darth Vader so note otherwise mentioned this post is mostly about my ideas for the TFA era and none of it is canon, ok?

Leia suspecting something was horribly wrong decided to send Ben to Luke and Snoke used the opportunity to give Ben a means to contact him in truth it functioned as a beacon allowing Snoke and a coalition of First Order and New Republic forces to track him to the academy and completely wipe it out as Snoke persuaded whoever was in charge that Luke was training the next generation of Darth Vader (after all Luke being the son of Darth Vader wasn't as great a secret as Leia being his twin!).

They gave the credit for the destruction of the academy to Ben who by this point was well on his way to his current insane state of mind, but Leia and Han would assume it was another lie of Snoke's to completely cut off Ben from his family.

Luke aware of the true nature of the force that attacked the academy went into hiding the story about the first jedi temple being just a red herring to allow him to safely relocate whoever survived the academy slaughter as well as warn Han & Leia.

The revelation about Leia's heritage is why she expected to be assassinated if she returned to Hosnian Prime, even Ben is unaware about how far Leia went with her training as I don't see him as a skilled light sabre duelist but very much a force prodigy albeit Snoke was limiting his training as he's fully aware if Kylo follows in his grandfather's steps too much killing Snoke would swiftly follow.

To me Poe was kept involved and Starkiller Base was mobile with none of this taking pot shots across the rest of the galaxy rubbish!

Will await season 3 of star wars rebels but for me Rey is Ezra's daughter who left her with Kanan on Jakku and he raised her training her enough to survive as well as enough understanding about the force to turn the tables on an unwary Kylo.

Am inclined to make Snoke the Grand Inquisitor from Season 1 of Star Wars Rebels who was assumed killed with Ezra having fallen and become one of his Knights leading to him becoming Kylo's new tutor but episode 8 will hopefully be an improvement over 7 in terms of their story problems and hopefully better than my listed ideas too!

Haven't finished Bloodlines nor read the Aftermath Life Debts having heard about the above in a you tube video review so if you know different please be sure to post a clarification on that please!

Much obliged I'm looking forward to seeing where you go with your ideas!

Like I say, I'm waiting until there's more information to work from. So won't be doing anything right now.

With the Prequels/Original Trilogy I've lots to work with. So much in fact I'm having to choose. I'll be posting in the Edge of the Empire once I've settled on a specific idea, but I currently like the idea of rewriting history a little so that Luke and Leia weren't even born.

Who knows, I might end up with a completely different timeline and reach Episode VII with a different cast altogether.

I'd make Snoke Darth Plagueis for a start.

Why would he be scared of Luke?

After all he wouldn't have wasted Star Killer Base on the New Republic when he could use whatever contacts he had that tracked Poe Dameron so well to overhear where Luke was and then send in a team to confirm before blowing that world up first!

I'm still wondering what was in that Sith Shrine buried beneath the Jedi Temple on Coruscant?

Maybe Palpatine's trophy room and an unwise darkside adept got possessed?

The impression I got from Bloodlines about Ben's transformation and the subsequent destruction of the Jedi Academy (I did finish it) is in the spoiler below.

Mind you, that's my personal interpretation and there's no canonical evidence to support it at this time. I read both of your ideas and I like them both (though the Plageuis/Snoke thing causes me to roll my eyes as it's become a bit of a cliche). That said, all your ideas work just fine and I don't think you absolutely need data to write the stories you have in your heads.

Just received my Force and Destiny Beginner Game.

With just the Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook, and some supplements, I wanted to have a little extra Force without a second Core Rulebook (F&D). Was worth it for the dice, the Enhance Power (EotE only has Influence, Sense and Move) and some Force Talents.

So why bring this up?

Because there's enough room for adversaries, vehicles and weapons from The Force Awakens. There wasn't a lot of variety. But if we just get a splattering of Jakku locals and a creature or two I'll be hoping for a book instead. Not a rulebook! Just a supplement that can be used with one of the three existing ones.

Meanwhile I'm up to chapter 20 out of 31 of Bloodlines. Excellent book! Just not inspired yet.

Just checking but did you means the Force Awakens Beginner set or the Force & Destiny Beginner box set where they deal with a missing mentor and a long forgotten Jedi Temple hidden in the outbacks of an otherwise insignificant backwater world?

Just checking but did you means the Force Awakens Beginner set or the Force & Destiny Beginner box set where they deal with a missing mentor and a long forgotten Jedi Temple hidden in the outbacks of an otherwise insignificant backwater world?

It was the FORCE AND DESTINY with the whole Jedi Temple blah blah, I got it for dice and some Force stuff which I did get.

If the Force Awakens beginner is similarly lacking on ships and vehicles, and has no First Order or Resistance, I'll wait for a supplement book unless there's a groovy Galaxy Map. Be worth getting for more dice and a map to hang on my wall.

Brain starting to hurt but I think I've got a possible solution to my "Before the Awakening" blues. I'll simply (not so simple) write a campaign based on my hopes for Bloodlines.

I'm going to treat the book Bloodlines like I would the movies if Roleplaying at a different era. Background, but not a guidebook.

I might be less communicative on the forums over the next little while. Going to finish reading Bloodlines and get my background ready.

I've finished reading Bloodlines and what follows are my plans for a campaign. This is some free flowing brainstorming, shooting from the hip, so I'm going to wrap it up in a SPOILER as I might blab something someone who hasn't read the book might not want spoiled.

So here is the rough plan:

Now to get ready for lift off

Have you thought about

Have you thought about

revealing how long the New Republic will be using Hosnian Prime as their capital?

Nah

I'm happy to leave that up to Canon sources. Won't effect my campaign which spends a year off-world anyway.

Have you thought about

How about that situation where Leia is approached about inheriting that position which she asked Carise to accept instead?

Perhaps they didn't die a natural death perhaps had a hand in your campaign and your players get to deliver word of this inheritance to Leia, Greer or Korra Sella?

I like your idea. Let my brain chew that over. These are some of the events I plan to have the characters take part in:

The Senator will arrive on Hosnian Prime for the ceremony around the Bail Organa statue.

Both Senators will be around for the First Senator politicking. Which means they'll be there for the boom. With all the bickering in the Senate which follows, that will provide opportunity for some espionage as the PC and Nemesis both try to prove/frame the other.

Not sure how the Darth Vader announcement will effect the Senator and team. But the assassination of Tai-Lin, and framing of Casterfo might be opportunities for more intrigue.

As the book of Bloodlines conclude, my PC's side with Leia and join the Resistance.

One of the things that has been inferreed about the vision of rey from the TFA was that the person that we see Ren kill is not from the jedi academy but was actually the previous leader of the knights of ren.

I recall he was supposed to be part of the clan that came into possession of Anakin's lightsaber before it came into Maz's possession?

I recall he was supposed to be part of the clan that came into possession of Anakin's lightsaber before it came into Maz's possession?

That would make a hell of a fight sequence between Maz Kanata's pirates and the Knights of Ren - but I'm not sure if I can envision the pirates faring particularly well against the Knights. Do you have a source for this? I'd love to read about it!